Cheruiyot, Ingebrigtsen face off at Diamond League
By Kiprono Ericson, May 9, 2022
An epic battle is in the offing when World 1500m champion Timothy Cheruiyot and Norwegian 1500m Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen clash during the Prefontaine Classic Diamond League in Eugene on May 28th.
Cheruiyot claimed his fourth career Diamond Trophy when he edged out Ingebrigtsen in the final in Zurich last year, just weeks after the Norwegian had beaten him to the gold medal in Tokyo. Cheruiyot who won silver for Kenya at the 2020 Olympic Games also powered to victory at the Diamond League finals.
In Tokyo, Ingebrigtsen beat Cheruiyot and the Zurich Diamond League offered the Kenyan track star the opportunity for revenge, and after an epic sprint in the homestretch, Cheruiyot held off the Norwegian in a 3:31.37 win.
Cheruiyot may have missed out on Olympic gold last year, but he continued to dominate in the Diamond League. The 1500m star picked up four wins, including a PB of 3:28.28 in Monaco, as he charged to an emphatic defence of his 2019 title and secured a fourth successive Diamond Trophy.
In August last year he was promoted to the rank of Senior Superintendent of Prisons after his performance in Tokyo by the president.
Before the Tokyo Games, Cheruiyot was a Chief Inspector at the Prisons Service.
Cheruiyot and eight other winners from different events walked home with Sh2.2 million each.”I am ready for the challenge ahead even though it will be a bruising battle but I will try my best and my focus is to defend my title during the World Athletics championship in Oregon and the Commonwealth games,” Cheruiyot told People Sport.